Music of Central China takes the Han nationality as the main body. Music in the Shang dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty are the most representatives. Four Domain music means the music created by other nations in other districts such as Yangtze River and Pearl River.

Ritual And Music: The Principle to Protect Order

Chinese music streaming took shape in 21 A.D to 3 century, a period including Xia Dynasty, Shang dynasty and the Western Chou dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States and Qin and Han Dynasty. It built a base for the development of Chinese music. Representative music streaming is politic and formal. Ritual and Music is the most typical term in this period.

Ancient emperors used Ritual and Music as means to govern the country. They claimed pecking order and lands union. First, the emperor of the Chou dynasty divided the land into parts and each part had its own manager. Managers had responsibility to govern their land and took valuable treasures to the emperor which could show their loyalty. In order to make the majesty firmly, King Wen of Chou invented Ritual and Music. Soon, Ritual and Music became a principal in protecting patriarchal system, acting as the basis of Chinese music. In Eastern of Chou, the Chou dynasty fell down. Managers began to fight for possessions and wars damaged Ritual and Music system. Confucius was the famous philosopher who was chasing Ritual and Music in his all life.

Early in the Xia Dynasty, Ritual and Music played a significant hole in enriching mind, enlightening spirits and enhancing life. It represented different emotion in people’s mind such as happy, sad, angry and depressed. And it was advertised as a textbook which taught moral characters and principles, using as a law in protecting the social order. It has great vitality till today.

China is recognized as a state of ceremonies. Although Ritual and Music is crashed in modern era and people are focussing on benefit more than traditional culture, Ritual and Music still has great influences in improving moral characters and correcting wrong thoughts today. Although it has lost its purity under crashing of commercial benefits, it still brings us graceful tune and ceremony stateliness.

Ritual and Music is consists of etiquette, dance and music. As the ShuoWenJieZi (a famous Chinese book) said,” Etiquette is aiming to wish for luck and servicing for god”. And Liang Qichao also explained the etiquette as principles for all people. In primitive period, the yellow emperor clan had a song name Cloud Gate which was only a lyric “ Hou Ren XI Yi”. Only the “Hou Ren” had real meaning. In Xia Dynasty, numerous songs had the praises of emperors such as the DaXia and the DaGuo.In Chou dynasty, children in noble family had to learn the Six Generation of Dance and the Six Dance in 20 years old. In Han Dynasty, new method of sing appeared. It was Xianghe songs.

Learn Chinese Time From This Period：

PinYin: zòng qíng chí chěng ā chāo yuè wàn lǐ

Chinese: 纵 情 驰 骋 啊 超 越 万 里

English: Indulge in gallop, beyond ten thousand miles

The “纵情” means to set oneself free. The “驰骋” means indulging. The “超越” means doing something better than others or going further than limitation. The “万里” means numerous miles.

Citizen Music is popular since the Song dynasty. Some entertainment institutes came out and people could hear songs, operas and poems in these places. Different art competed with each other for popularity of civilians. They were as beautiful as flowers blooming together. Singing methods in the period influenced Chinese songs aftertime such as the ChanLing, ChanDa and Drum lyrics. With progress of Song Poems, many methods in writing lyrics appeared such as TanPo, JianZi and TouSheng, etc.

For instance, the JiangBian was not only a poet, but also a lyricist and singer. He used JianZi method and wrote a famous work named Ancient Remorse. Most works expressed author’s concern about the country and people, describing a sad and depressing environment.

In the Yuan Dynasty, dramatic art appeared the peak represented by Yuan Drama. The representative writers of Yuan drama related to Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan, Zheng Guangzu and BaiPu. Typical works had Guan Hanqing’s Dou, Dan Dao Hui and Wang Shifu’s Xi Xiang Ji. Yuan drama had a complicated structure that each song was consists of 4 parts and each part was performed by one heroine.

In 10 century to 19 century, It was re-arranged. The capitalist economy sprouted and civilians group grew larger. Chinese songs began to be focussed on society but not the domination any more. Even the songs broke sexual limitation. Almost everyone learned the Chinese songs. Its content covered diverse cultures such as Tan lyrics in South China and Drum lyrics in North China. Tan lyrics in Su Zhou were most influencing, appearing three genres including Chen tune, Ma tune and Yu tune.

Chen tune was famous as its desolation. Ma tune was famous for its frank hearty. Yu tune was beautiful and gentle. Traditional Chinese opera was the most typical music in the period. Kunqu Opera was the champion among them. A Story of the Washing Girl was the earliest Kunqu Opera in Ming Dynasty. Other operas such as Peony Pavilion and Palace of Eternal Life were also popular in civilians. Songs performed by a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard were well received by civilians as well.

Main Trend: Democracy and Science

After a series of anti-imperialist and anti-feudal peasant revolutions, Chinese music streaming developed with foreign music. But it took democracy and science as main trend. First, traditional music was enthusiastic in revolutionary themes such as Hong Xiuquan Uprising, Ejectment song and Hold on Straight to the End. Traditional Chinese Opera began to perform by groups and more artists appeared such as Mei Lanfang, Cheng Lianqiu and Chou Xinfang. National Music was largely spreading as well. People were familiar with The Moon Over a Fountain of the blind Bing. People accepted foreign music easier since then.

Pop music was born in the late 20s of the last century. 30s to 40s century is the first time peak, 80s century is the second peak. Teenagers prefer exciting and traitorous pop music rather than the gentle music then. The representative singers such as ZhengJun, WangFeng and foreign singers (Beatles) were fashion and colorful in styles. In fact, Li Jinhui was the first one composed a pop song in China. Drizzle and I Love You Sister symbolized the birth of popular songs. Pacing up and down in 80s, pop music in 90s has an unprecedented new atmosphere.

The main sign is the rise of alternative music. In fact, alternative music brings a new streaming World Music as well. In the past, the third world music (or folk music) was just as a kind of decoration that was interspersed with rock or pop music. Musicians just borrowed but not explored the third world music. They finished a mixture but not a creation. From the late 80s, musicians began to really enter the third world, to study and tap new music, thus forming the tendency of world music. When the trend became commercial benefits, the Western musicians changed attitudes. They signed it in World music with great “Gold Fever”.

In recent years, some musicians have made encouraging achievements in this regard. For example, Sister Drum is Zhu Zheqin in the 1994 issue of the album, which includes 7 songs, It was awarded the best album award by the American recording Association” Classical Record Award” and “Taiwan Golden Tripod Award” in 1995.And it won the first prize of “Two-way Awards” vocal music in China. Interesting, this album was based on the Chinese Tibetan culture, and the Sister Drum was a distant legend.

Sister Drum creation comes from a story: the drum with the skin of a girl, who was willing to do de dedication. They felt very shocked after hearing it. So he picked her as Sister Drum. Some had advised Zhu Zheqin to cover the songs in the album in English in order to better access the Western market. But Zhu Zheqin thought it was not necessary because it was the music he wanted to create, and the Oriental language was an inseparable factor in the composition of the music.

On album cover, there are three Zhu Zheqin standing on the Himalayas, the thress Zhu Zheqin represented cycles, the oriental values of life is a perennial earth, it is a living immortal, it is quoted as renewal. Its success proves that we have the ability to make wonderful Chinese world music. The album was called one of the five best “World Music” albums by the British Q magazine in 1995. Besides, WangYong’s Fusion— mixture of music and modern pop music also won great reputation in overseas. And the company CZ Music launched a melting of New Age music and New Folk song named Dream House. All this shows that Chinese musicians have been awakened after a baptism of Western music.

But we cannot deny that the traditional Chinese opera is crashed and ignored nowadays. People pay greater attention to pop music but forget our traditional Chinese music streaming in the ancient China. Now, government is encouraging the public to protect and review traditional music. More and more music, a mixing of traditional and modern music, appears in recent years.

English: My older sister never spoke when she was young. She left our home when I began to memorize things.

The “阿姐” means the older sister. The “从小” means since childhood. The “说话” means to speak. The “记事” means beginning to memorize things. The “离开” means to leave.

To use your own music language and talk to the world, although it is hard to get started, and music is not mature yet, that is enough to make us to look forward to the future of China’s music going to the world.

The world provides us with such an opportunity. And we are ought to hold it tightly. Despite the fact that it is a long process for Chinese music to go all over the world, as long as you have the confidence, it will always be happening. Otherwise, you can only be led by someone else’s nose. And in the past, we were led by the others for too long.